Duplex lamp-socket



W. J. KOENIG, DECD.

A. ALLEN ADMlNlST-RATRIX 'DUPLEX L/WP SOCKET.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 20, 1920. i w lmo Patentedsept. 27,1921. fl 1 'IIIIIIIIIL III/IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII flllfllll! ,4 TTOR/VE VS WITNESSES VIII/III! of the city UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J1: KOENIG, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK; ANNIE ALLEN, ADMINISTRATBIX OF SAID WILLIAM J. KOEN'IG, DECEASED, ASSIGNOR TO RALPH J. DE ROSS, OI

BROOKLYN, NEW. YORK.

DUPLEX LAMP-SOCKET.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 27, 1921.

Application filed January 20, 1920. Serial No. 352,887.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. Konmc, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York borough of Brook- 1 n, in t e' county of Kings and State of ew York, have invented a new and Improved Duplex Lamp-Socket, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to electric lamp fixtures and has particular reference to sockets for electric lamp bulbs such as are commonly used in headlights or analogous devices.

Among the objects of the invention are to provide a lamp socket with a novel form of resilient contact carrier for cooperation with a lamp base; to provide an unusually simple, cheap, but highly efficient contact structure for use on or in connection with the base support, and to provide a contact base or carrier adapted for direct cooperation with a lamp base of either the two point or single point contact design.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and-in Which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of one form of my present improvement.

Figs. 2 and 3 are horizontal sections of the same on the corresponding lines indicated thereon.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a modified structure.

Fig. 5 is a. horizontal section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of a further modification. I

Fig. 7 is a horizontal section on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

Referrin .now more particularly to the drawings, Show in Fig. 1 a socket member comprising a cylindrical shell 10 adapted to receive in one end the base 11 of a conventional lam the same being locked in place ordinarily y bayonet slot connections. This contact base lamp and hence the shell 10 is of insulation.

Within the opposite end of the shell from the lamp is fixed rigidly by any suitable means an abutment member 12 preferably of non-conducting material and shown provided with two holes 13 serving as guides. Within the shell and adapted to be engaged and depressed by the lamp base 11 is a contact carrier 14 m the ,form of a washer of non-conducting material and into which are fitted in spaced relation a pair of contacts 15 for cooperation with the respective contacts 16 of the lamps. The contacts 15 are the end portions of anchor members 17 to which the line wires 18 are adaptedto be directly connected, each of the anchor members having a loop at its end remote from the contact 15 for this purpose. The guides 13 serve to hold the anchor members in proper s aced relation to each other and yet .permit the same to slide along the slots 13 which being relatively long serve also as a means to prevent the twisting or rotation of the anchor members in the shell. These anchor members may be made rapidly and cheaply since they may consist of simple strips or ribbons of metal of uniform width cut of suitable length to form the loop as shown. The contact ends of the anchor members after projecting snugly through slots in the contact carrier are bent resiliently uponthe 11 per surface of the carrier and so constitute direct and suitable contact points for the contacts 16. of the lamp base. A spring 19 surrounding each anchor member between the-abut ment and the carrier 13 serves to'hold the carrier in position to insure proper contact for the lamp base, and furthermore such spring or springs have the tendency to keep the-carrier held up against the bent over end portions of the contacts 15. The abutment member being fixed in the shell at a definite position with respect to the bayonet slots and the anchor members and contact carrier being held the'reby from rotation, the several contacts will be sure to properly function when the lamp base is inserted into the shell. The structure of Figs. 1, 2-and 3 is designed specifically for a two point contact lamp, but by a slight variation in structure the socket may be adapted for either a single contact or doublecontact lamp base.

In Figs. 4 and 5 the shell 10' is of metal.

The abutment 12 is or may be the same as before described but is provided with only one guide slot 13 just off of the center of the abutment. A single anchor member 17 is employed which provides a contact 15' having one end portion longer than the other as shown at 15 to engage one contact point of a double contact lamp base while the other portion of the contact 15 lies in position to receive at the center of the base a single contact point 16. The floating contact carrier 14' in Figs. 4; and 5 is made of insulation but surrounded with a band 20 of split metal which engages the inner surface of the shell 10' and is extended over the upper surface of the insulation 14' to form a resilient lip 90 adapted "to receive the other contact 16 of a double contact lamp ase.

The carrier 14 in this form of the invention is supported flexibly by means of the spring 19 surrounding the anchor member 17 and. is held from rotation as above described by reason of the cooperation between the anchor member and the slot 13. In the use of a two point contact lamp one lead is from one contact of the lamp through the contact 15' and anchor member to one wire 18, while the other is from the other contact 16 through the lip 20, rim 20 and shell 10' to the other wire 18. With a single contact lamp, the lamp contact acts through the anchor member while the base of the lamp cooperates directly with the shell 10 in the usual manner.

In Figs. 6 and 7 I show that adaptation of my invention for a single contact lamp specifically. In this form the shell 10' and abutment 12' are substantially the same as set forth in Fig, 1 though the slot 13 in Fig.

6 is at the center of the abutment, while the corresponding feature in Fig. 4 is slightly ofl the center of the abutment. The contact carrier 14; is of insulation and is adapted to float freely in the shell except as resisted by the spring 19 surrounding the anchor member carried by the carrier. The single contact 15 is in position to receive the single contact 16 of the lamp base 11'.

From the nature of the anchor members forming at their upper ends the contacts 10 the contact end portions when bent over toward or against the body 14 of the contact carrier will not lie fiat. but because ofa certain amount of resiliency in the metal will lie at a slight angle with respect to H force to interfere with the sliding of thecontact carrier within said shell. Again, the band 20 is preferably extended somewhat lengthwise of the shell beyond the body to insure sufficient length to prevent tilting and binding of the contact carrier in the shell.

I claim:

1. The herein described lamp socket comprlsing a shell, an. abutment member fixed in the shell and having a guide hole therethrough, a floating contact carrier within the shell spaced from the abutment but movable toward the abutment on the introduction of a lamp, resilient means between the abutment and the carrier normally supporting the carrier spaced from the abutment, and a contact member carried by the carrier and projecting through the hole in the abutment, the said contact member being composed of a flat piece of metal of uniform width and bent upon itself near its center to form a loop, and which after the ends are passed through the carrier are bent apart upon the contact surface .of the carrier.

2. In a lamp socket, the combination with a floating contact carrier, of a contact carried thereby and composed of a flat piece of metal of uniform width bent upon itself near its center to form a loop, and whlch after the ends are passed through the carrier are bent apart upon the contact surface of the carrier.

WILLIAM J. KOENIG. 

